I'm looking to load a Buddies Winchester M-70 lightweight sporter in 7x57 Mauser for Mule Deer this fall. Does anyone have any experience with powders sutable for 139 to 160 gr bullets? I think He plans to use a Berger VLD. My powder magazine availability contains IMR 4320, 4350, 4895. Hodgdon Benchmark, Varget. Reloader 15. Winchester 748. Any help within these powder constraints would save Me a LOT of time! I also have a good supply of CCI, Federal, and Winchester Primers. Standard, Magnum, and Match. Will be using Winchester Brass.
This Rifle is a proven tack driver with Factory loads if that helps with the selection.

Yes, just wanted to know if someone had some experience with powder for this cartdridge.
Case volume seems "closely similar" to 308 Win.(which I'm familiar with) but the Speer and Nosler books seem to favor slower powders than that?
Just wondering.

The 160 VLD bullet will severly limit case capacity unless you can seat the bullet "way out there" and a slow burning powder would be best. That means you won't get anywhere near the velocity you probably want to achieve.

The 139 (140) gr bullet has a better case capacity with the VLD, but not much. A slightly faster burn rate powder would work.

Thanks for the reply kdub, what I'm trying to find is whether anyone has loaded this cartridge before, and which specific powder worked best for a particular bullet. In short, Experience with this particular set of constraints.

My current collection has been trimmed to a 7-08 and a .280 Remington. The 7RM and larger 7mm's are fine, but I sold my last magnum this spring and don't miss it a bit.

The 7X57 is nearly identical to the 7-08, and will safely launch bullets of nearly identical B.C. and SD to a .30-06, to the same velocities. Something like a 139/140gr Hornady/Sierra BT is the ballistic equal to a 165gr bullet of the same design in a '06, and there's no reason to look down your nose at that pair when you're chasing mule deer anywhere they live. VLD's might look better in a 7RM at 600yds than a conventional design, but under any conditions you'd take a shot with the 7X57, that difference would need a microscope to find it.

With your selection, I'd go straight to a 4350. I'd use W760 or H414, but the 4350's are almost the same, but don't meter as nicely. Winchester brass is good, and any of those primers will be just fine.

I must be getting old. My fascination with VLD's etc. is in the same place as my fascination for Lady Ga Ga. Spend the extra money if you want to, but like Lady G, there is no point.

My current collection has been trimmed to a 7-08 and a .280 Remington. The 7RM and larger 7mm's are fine, but I sold my last magnum this spring and don't miss it a bit.

The 7X57 is nearly identical to the 7-08, and will safely launch bullets of nearly identical B.C. and SD to a .30-06, to the same velocities. Something like a 139/140gr Hornady/Sierra BT is the ballistic equal to a 165gr bullet of the same design in a '06, and there's no reason to look down your nose at that pair when you're chasing mule deer anywhere they live. VLD's might look better in a 7RM at 600yds than a conventional design, but under any conditions you'd take a shot with the 7X57, that difference would need a microscope to find it.

With your selection, I'd go straight to a 4350. I'd use W760 or H414, but the 4350's are almost the same, but don't meter as nicely. Winchester brass is good, and any of those primers will be just fine.

I must be getting old. My fascination with VLD's etc. is in the same place as my fascination for Lady Ga Ga. Spend the extra money if you want to, but like Lady G, there is no point.

I couldn't agree with you more on Lady Gagme or the VLD bullets, but there is one thing I would point out.

Hodgdon now makes both IMR and H4350, and they are both "short cut" granulations. They are basically one and the same now, with far less difficulty in how they meter, plus they are nowhere near as temperature sensitive as they once were. If 4350 works well for you (as it does in my 270) there isn't a good reason to avoid it, anymore.

The loads were in Winchester brass and used WLP's, and W760. The load for a 140gr Sierra Pro Hunter was sourced from a call to Sierra, and I requested loads for a newer M70 push feed FWT. Without supplying an exact max, they indicated I could safely hit 2800fps without exceeding pressures acceptable for a .30-06 or similar round. One five shot string on a cool fall day averaged 2813fps, and the same box turned in 2821 on a very warm day in July. With 154gr Hornady RN's, I topped out at a hair less than 2700fps with H414.

Both loads used less powder than a 7-08, and are quite likely running lower pressures, but it wasn't my rifle, etc. Both loads were up to sub MOA on a consistant basis.

i've chrono'd 2 7x57's with H414. In my 20" barrel, 48 grains of H414 will give 2790fps @10 feet, with a 140 Nosler Partition. That's a max load, according to Nosler, so work up carefully.
A friend of mine's 7x57 with a 22 inch barrel uses the same amount of powder with a Nosler 140 Ballistic tip. That load in his rifle chrono's at 2850 fps.
In both rifles, Winchester brass and CC!200 primers were used.